Mike Jeffries: Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Doesn't Want Fat Customers

Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is most concerned about selling elitism above all else. And while this isn't news, it's still just as problematic as it was back in 2006 when A&F was outed as a brand focused on sex appeal of the all-American youth demographic. You won't find a size XL or XXL in their store — you won't even find pants for girls that go above a size 10 although it has been said that the average woman's pant size is around 12-14. And the reason why?

"He doesn't want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people," Robin Lewis, co-author of The New Rules of Retail and CEO of newsletter The Robin Report, said to Business Insider. "He doesn't want his core customers to see people who aren't as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they're one of the 'cool kids.'"

They do sell larger sizes for men — mostly to accommodate hunky athletes. But where does that leave women who aren't small enough to wander into their dark stores drenched in overly musky perfume? Without A&F jeans, which is all fine and dandy. There are other stores out there who sell the same items for much cheaper, mind you. But A&F's CEO's blatant disregard for the plus size market (which is not a bad thing to invest in) speaks in on an ongoing issue with the fashion world in general. That issue of selling thinness (and wax board abs as well as "whiteness") as gold standards of beauty. Why do these standards continue to be propagated in the fashion and beauty world? Because consumers unfortunately keep buying into them.

As Jeffries said in an interview with Salon in 2006, he found all-around inclusion unnecessary because while "You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either."

Well if it's "exciting" and "trendy" to exclude groups of people based on their looks, then I personally don't want to be exciting and trendy. The saddest part of this whole debacle is that A&F will more than likely continue its practices and mark this incident off on its laundry list of controversies.